Wisdom
by CynicAlb
Summary: Old man, young man, rich man, poor man. Daniel Jackson in his many stages of life


Title: Wisdom

Category: Gen

Season: seven

Spoilers: Movie through season eight all fair game, also mentions of Atlantis

Summary: Daniel wakes up at the wrong time, eight years later!

Dr Daniel Jackson yawned and rubbed his eyes. He squinted at the clock on his office wall; 3:43 am. Jackson frowned, bemused hadn't it just been gone 11? But no he'd lost track of the time again. This statue was amazing, it was a pictorial representation of the stages of life; beginning with a child, up to an old man, each figure was superimposed on top of the next four figures in all. Utterly fascinating just on it's own but, around the base were carvings. Writings from several earth cultures. They all repeated the same phrase; Youth is Curiosity, Maturity is Knowledge, Elderly is Wisdom. Strange he thought for the hundredth time, but what the hell does it mean?

Daniel stood up and then crawled on the couch, pulling the afghan over himself and figuring he'd catch a few hours before the briefing the next morning.

"Daniel." Jackson's eyes fluttered open into a dark and blurry world.

"What? What is it?" He stared blearily around the room the blanket had worked its way over his head and he felt incredibly out of place lying on the couch.

"Have you been here all night?"

"Depends what time is it?"

"Just after 10."

"Then yes, I've been here all night."

"Here." His glasses were thrust into one hand and a tantalizingly warm cup was placed in the other. Daniel slipped in glasses on as he took a long drag of the coffee. "Better?" Daniel looked at his visitor clearly for the first time and frowned.

"Colonel O'Neill?" Jack frowned at the question.

"Since when do you call me that?"

"Since I met you?" Daniel squinted even through his glasses, the man looked different, and he simply couldn't put his finger on how.

"Daniel in all the time I've known you for you have never called me by my rank," That was weird thought Jackson, sitting up and pulling the blanket off his head. "Holy crap Daniel what did you do to your hair?" The surprised declaration caused the archeologist to jump up.

"What? What's happened to my hair?" he immediately noted a small mirror on the table and picked it up. He sighed in relief at his reflection; same as always his long hair was a little mussed but it looked fine. "What are you talking about?" he turned to O'Neill. "It looks fine, sure it needs a comb but hey I just woke up." He shrugged.

"Daniel do you feel okay?" Jack looked worriedly at his friend.

"I feel fine." He shrugged taking in his surroundings. "What is this place anyway?" He began looking over the manuals and papers on the desk he'd been working at the night before.

"Daniel what's the last thing you remember?"

"I stayed up all night trying to decipher the inner track on the cover stones. I'm pretty close to getting it but I was just wondering if there's any chance of me seeing or even knowing, what was found underneath them, that'd be great."

"I think, we need to take a trip to the infirmary," said Jack easing himself in behind Daniel.

"Why?" he asked a little uncomfortable with the proximity.

"Why? Because you seem to have lost 8 years over night."

Daniel Jackson sat on a gurney swinging his legs absently. At first he'd thought that O'Neill was having a laugh with him, telling him he'd somehow gotten younger, but when he thought about it, the chain smoking colonel he'd met after translating the cover stones, didn't seem to have a sense of humor, or even to care about him as much as this older version did. Yes, he realized that's what had thrown him when he'd woken up, the man was older, thinner, with grayer hair than when he'd seen him only a few days ago, at least to Daniel it was only a few days. For everyone else it had been almost a decade. Daniel was then shown pictures of what he was supposed to have looked like. He wasn't sure if the man in the photos was really him, he looked so different from the hair down, it could have been a different person, but when he really looked, he knew it was him.

"Hey, Daniel!" Jackson looked upon the woman, blond blue eyes. He smiled; she looked nice.

"Hi," he said. "Do I know you?" The woman frowned.

"Daniel it's me, Sam." She looked concerned searching his face for a spark of recognition in the vacant smile.

"I'm told I've forgotten some stuff."

"I'll say you look like you did when we first met."

"When was that?"

"About 7 years ago."

"Yeah, O'Neill said I'd known him for about 8 years."

"What's the last thing you do remember?"

"I've been trying to decipher the cover-stones, but my coffee ran dry. Those inner symbols have been driving me mad. There's no frame of reference to them anywhere. It might help if I had some context maybe see what was buried with it. But I've been stuck in here all day." Sam smiled faintly. "What? What's so funny?"

"Hearing you talk like that, I miss it."

"What you miss me ranting in frustration?"

"No, I missed the passion." Daniel blushed.

"I've only been working on this for a few weeks; it'll probably take me months to figure it out, but sometimes I feel like it's just on the edge of my tongue and all I have to do is spit it out." Sam smiled again. "What?"

Janet laid the folders of medical tests on the briefing room table. Sam, Teal'c, Jack and General Hammond looked at her expectantly.

"He's not a clone."

"How can you tell?"

"There are no abnormalities in his blood work or in the DNA work ups."

"Then what happened?"

"I don't know for all intents and purposes that is Daniel Jackson aged 27."

"So what happened to Daniel aged 39?"

"I don't…" she was interrupted when her pager went off. Receiving a nod from the General she used a phone on the side board. Janet talked in hushed tones for a few seconds and then said. "Keep him calm, I'll be right there." Everyone was out the door before the doctor's coat tail vanished. Frasier stopped at the door to the infirmary. "Let me see him first. Wait here."

Janet entered the room, and was motioned toward what had been termed Jackson corner. A figure writhed beneath the blankets on the bed. She pulled back the cover on what was clearly a younger Jackson, not more than twelve years old. He struggled in the grip of a nightmare. Janet automatically put her hands on him hugging him soothing the boy through his dream. Pretty soon his breathing evened out and he was still. Janet laid him back and he opened his eyes.

"What's going on?" he asked frowning, but with no visible fear in his eyes. "Who are you?"

"I'm Dr Frasier, there was an accident; can you tell me your name?"

"Daniel Jackson."

"How old are you Daniel?"  
"12 and 3/4." Janet smiled.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"My foster sister, Julie, she was shouting at me."

"Why was she shouting?"

"I corrected her French homework. She said I was too smart for my own good. I was only trying to help." He shrugged looking around. "What kind of hospital is this?"

"A special one."

"Special how? Like for dying people and stuff?" Janet was disturbed by the boy's indifference to the prospect of being in a place of death but she was careful not to show it.

"No," she said. "It's a different kind of special; we're on a military base."

"My foster dad, told me that the military's full of fascists pigs, on a power trip and we're lucky not to be living under marshal law." Janet cringed; no wonder Daniel had distaste for the military, with that kind of role model.

"Do you believe him?" She asked, and was relieved that Daniel shook his head.

"No, the military is a function of government; it's lower in the food chain. If the military is corrupt then the whole system is corrupt. They're all based on simple hierarchal structure, though the problem isn't the system itself it's the sheer volume of people being pressed into it. There's no possible way for this kind of system to accommodate that many individuals without a lot of massive errors on a regular basis. Unfortunately it's so ingrained in our culture, society would crumble without it." Janet smiled.

"You're very articulate."

"I like to know things." He shrugged.

"What's going on?" asked Jack.

"He's gotten around 15 years younger."

"What?"

"He's now twelve and three quarters."

"What's going to happen to him?"

"Colonel I have no idea what's happing to him, let alone how to treat it. There's simply nothing I can do if whatever this is decides to do it again.

Daniel got younger. The following day little Danny, was playing word games with Janet until he fell asleep in her arms. The next morning, he was a baby. Baby Jackson was placed in a special isolation room to be cared for.

Jack stood looking over Daniel's cot, the child slept peacefully, innocent in this world of blankets and soft toys. Jack picked up a few of the toys.

"You got a lot of fans out there Daniel; I think half the base had chipped in to make this place a little homier for you." Jack paused as the baby turned in his sleep. "You should grow up and tell everyone how happy you are to be the proud owner of a rattle and a mobile." Jack closed his eyes forcing back the emotions that he couldn't show. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Jack's eyes opened in surprise. The baby was gone, and in his place was an old man, he had long white hair, and piercing blue eyes. Jack just stared at this development.

"Daniel?"

"For a long time now yeah." Jack didn't know what to say he was simply stunned by what had happened. "Jack, are you going to help me up or what?" the voice was rough, aged, but still sounded like Daniel. Jack shook his head, trying to restart his thoughts.

"Err, yeah sure." He put his hand in to the cot to help.

"Erm you think you can get me something to wear first?" That's when Jack noticed that this old man wasn't wearing anything as he crouched in the crib. "Whatever, I was wearing before seems to have been a little too small." He held up a scrap of the blue one piece baby suit Daniel had been wearing. Jack handed him a pair of blue scrubs and helped the old man out of the cradle.

Janet walked in to check on the child and she found Jack helping an old man sit on a plastic chair.

"There's been a development." Said Jack.

"So I see." Frasier knelt down to be on level with the old man. "Daniel?" The man squinted at Janet.

"Janet?" he croaked.

"That's right; can you tell me your name?"

"Daniel Jackson," he smiled faintly, "82. I haven't seen you in forever Janet, what year is this?"

"It's 2003."

"Ah the big decension year."

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"I was settling down with a good book, my granddaughter, Kelly was asleep on my lap." He smiled and his whole face lit up and he was once again staring at Janet. "I wish I'd been able to keep my glasses though I can barely see you." Janet smiled and immediately brought out a pair of Daniel's glasses. Daniel smiled at them and put them on. "These are a little better; of course they're no where near as strong as the ones I wear now. They keep telling me to get the eye replacement surgery, but I say why go through the pain when a pair of glasses gets the same result?" Janet smiled again. "I've missed you." He said raising a hand to her face. He paused there for a second and then quickly recovered his hand moving to his side he looked up at Jack who had been watching the exchange. "So, one of you want to tell me what's going on?"

"I was wondering, when you were going to get around to that." Said Jack. "You don't seem that surprised to be here."

"Don't get me wrong, Jack this is the last place I expected to wake up this morning, but you don't get to be my age without learning to roll with the punches, and you don't work for the SGC for forty years without learning to deal with the totally abnormal and bizarre. Jesus Jack, I forgot how suspicious you were; when you were this age." He looked back at Janet a fond smile on his face. "So you want to tell me what happened? Because I don't remember being this old in 2003."

"Well, we don't know what happened really, we found you in your office, you'd gotten almost ten years younger. Then a few hours later, you were around twelve, after a baby of eight months, we were worried if you regressed anymore, you'd cease to exist but apparently whatever it is that's doing this goes forward as well as back."

"Did you check my office to see what I was working on?"

"Yeah," said Jack. "But there are half finished notes on a half dozen artifacts in there and no one can read your chicken scratch but you." Old Daniel frowned.

"Must have been before I started taking notes on a Tablet." Jack looked puzzled. "A touch screen computer. I know they were around now, Weir took a bunch with her to Atlantis."

"Atlantis?"

"Oh, right 2003 forget I said that, you want to show me those notes? Or maybe I can go to my office; I think I still remember where it was." Jack glanced at Janet giving her a shrug.

"You can go," said Janet. "But I want you in a wheelchair."

"What? I can walk perfectly well."

"I have no doubts but I don't want to take the risk of over exertion, I have no idea what the ramifications will be of your dying here in your past."

"Yeah," Daniel sighed. "Don't want to get stuck in one of those funky time paradoxes; those can give you headaches on your headaches."

"I'm glad you agree." Janet smiled.

Janet sent for a wheelchair and allowed Jack to take Daniel to his office.

"Jack, do you think we could stop by the locker room, these scrubs are a bit draughty for a man my age."

"Fine, we'll stop there on the way, there should be a spare set of BDU's in your locker."

"This is so weird." Said the old man sitting back in the wheelchair. "I haven't been down the mountain in months."

"Months? You're still working at 82?"

"Consulting," he said raising his withered hand in a very Daniel like gesture. "I do a few translations over the net, but sometimes you have to see it in reality to get a real feeling for an object."

"So, you really don't change as you age. I think that's the same, argument you've been trying to sell me to get to go out with Dr Lee to P32-l98."

"Oh, the bathroom wall."

"The what?"

"Yeah, Bill translated a word on the wall as ancient and sent for me, but the pictures are too grainy. It says something to the effect of 'Jeko has an ancient dick don't date him.'" Jack laughed.

"You're kidding?"

"Nope, and you still have to let me go, when the young me comes back."

"Why?"

"Because you can't change history, even the smallest changes can have huge ramifications. Trust me, they found a few things in Egypt, a few years ago that made me very happy, not to mess with time travel."

"I guess, but I get to laugh when you come tell me this really big discovery was a bathroom right?"

"Of course. You'd do that anyway." Jack nodded.

"True." They came finally to Daniel's office door. Jack slid the security card through the lock and the door, opened slowly. Sat at the desk, was Sam her head in her arms sleeping.

"Sam?" Daniel's old face, squinted through the glasses. Sam's head shot up.

"What? Who is it?" she turned to see Jack and Daniel in the doorway.

"Sam it's me Daniel."

"Daniel?"

"Carter have you been here all night?"

"I've been trying to go through Daniel notes; to make sense of this stuff." She paused looking back at them. "Daniel? But how; you were a baby!"

"And now I'm an 82 year-old man, with bad eyesight come here so I can see you properly." Sam got down of the stool and carefully knelt in front of Daniel.

"Is it really you?" she asked peering up at this old man with the wild white mane.

"Of course, just a little older that's all."

"A little" snorted Jack.

"You should respect your elders Jack."

"When you do I will."

"I respect Hammond."

"And?"

"And, err, nope that's it just George." Daniel perked up, "Is he here?"

"General Hammond? Sure why?"

"I haven't seen him in a while."

"Of course." Said Sam," General Hammond wouldn't have lived until you were 80."

"No," said Daniel simply. "He didn't." They sat silently, for a moment.

"Come on," said Jack. "Frasier said you can have an hour to look at your stuff, and then she wants you in the infirmary for a check up." Sam looked worried.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, fit as a fiddle as of my last physical 6 months ago."

"What's with the wheel chair?"

"It was Janet's idea; she doesn't want me keeling over, in this time period creating major time paradoxes."

"Yeah, those things can be a nightmare."

"Tell me about it," said Daniel; the voice of experience.

"Yeah, and that means you can't tell us anything about the future either."

"I know; it's killing me, not to tell you all the amazing and scary things that will happen to us." He sighed. "Let's just get started." He stood up and walked over to the desk and began shuffling through the papers there; smiling nostalgically as he read through some of the notes. "I'll tell you though; I'm so much more organized when they stop using paper." Sam laughed and went to join him.

"I'm going to report to General Hammond." Said Jack and then opened his mouth to continue but Daniel interrupted him.

"Okay, Sam can take me to Janet I'm sure you don't want me wandering alone." Jack looked puzzled.

"How did you know I was going to say that?"

"Jack, we've been friends for forty odd years, I think I know you by now."

"That's not fair; I thought you weren't going to use your future knowledge."

"No, I can use it I just can't tell you about it." Jack rolled his eyes and left. Daniel laughed.

"I guess you and the Colonel are closer than ever in the future then." Sam said absently shuffling papers.

"Pretty much, but it took us a long time to get over the ascension thing, I know you're still hurting over my not visiting you while I was up there, but I seem to remember that you were the one who dealt best with my death."

"What are you talking about? I was a head case!"

"You are the only one out the three of you that grieved for me. You know the saying feel the fear and do it anyway?"

"Yeah,"

"Well, it's the same with grief. You think if you let yourself feel the loss, you won't be able to function without that person. But by not grieving you deny yourself closure and the ability to move on."

"Kind of like feel the loss and go on in spite of it?"

"Yeah, you were the only one who mourned for me. Jack and Teal'c sought me out in they're own ways, but they never accepted the loss they couldn't move on. Especially Jack, who was pissed at me for choosing to go with Oma and not to keep fighting, when I came back, it took him a long time to realize that ascension was my only choice. Jacob couldn't heal me fully; I would have been an invalid for the rest of my greatly shortened life." They were silent for a moment looking through the papers.

"I thought you weren't going to tell us about the future."

"I didn't." Daniel looked at Sam. "Hey, this is something."

"What is it?"

"Notes on an artifact, I've never seen before."

"So, maybe you just forgot you can't remember every artifact you've ever studied. Can you?"

"I might be old, but I'm not senile, I remember at least something of everything I've studied at the SGC."

"Okay, what artifact is it?"

"This one," he said and pulled out the statue. "The inscription reads 'youth is curiosity, Maturity is knowledge, and Elderly is wisdom.' That's interesting."

"What does it mean?"

"I'm not sure." Just then the phone rang. Daniel picked it up without thinking, "Jackson…oh, Janet I'm sorry I kind of got caught up… no Sam's here with me we may have found something….oh not sure yet but…okay we'll be right there." He hung up smiling slightly, "Janet wants to see me in the infirmary. Shall we go?" Daniel sat down in the wheelchair reading over the notes he'd found. Sam smiled at him.

"I can't believe how much you're going to change."

"What?"

"You; going to the infirmary without a fight." Daniel just shrugged.

"I haven't seen Janet in a while." Sam frowned.

"Okay let's go." Sam pushed Daniel to the infirmary in silence, she wasn't sure she liked, the fact that this Daniel had lost contact with Dr Frasier, but she didn't want to think about it if the loss was the same reason, he hadn't seen General Hammond in a while.

"George!" cried Daniel delighted as he was wheeled into the infirmary. General Hammond was there talking to Jack.

"Dr Jackson?" Daniel's smile faded a little.

"Sorry, old habit, we're not on a first name basis until you retire."

"Okay, I'll have to take your word for it, Dr Jackson."

"You can call me Daniel, no one calls me Doctor anymore it's too impersonal."

"Well, Daniel I want to examine you so that we won't have anymore surprises while we figure out how to get you back to your own time."

"Only for you Janet." He said getting up from the chair. Everyone in the room, stopped and Daniel looked up. "What?"

"You hate physicals." Said Jack.

"Yes, I do."

"You always fight them."

"No, I used to fight them."

"What changed?" Daniel shrugged.

"I grew up and decided it wasn't worth the hassle."

"That's very enlightened of you Daniel. Could you please come with me?"

"Sure thing," he turned to Sam, "Here could you fill them in on what we found?" he handed her the notes on the statue.

Daniel lay in the infirmary bed with a contented smile on his face, his eyes closed he listened to Janet's footsteps approach the bed.

"I missed you." He said without opening his eyes. "When I was gone." He amended, "I missed you." He opened old eyes to the blur that was Janet.

"I missed you too." She said. "I wish we didn't have to lose you for so long."

"Me too. But you did your best, there was nothing to be done and," he sighed "when it's time to go, nothing can stop it. I know I tried." He turned from her to blink away tears. "So what's the verdict," he asked trying to sound light. Frasier was surprised by this display, but didn't push it.

"You're in perfect health, though you have a few more scars than our Daniel."

"Fifteen years on a first contact team will do that for you."

"Everyone's waiting in the briefing room; the General's ordered you to join them when you're finished here."

"Jack's on a power trip again huh? Thinks he can order me around, like the old days." Daniel laughed to himself as he stood up. Janet just stared at him.

"Colonel O'Neill?" Daniel smiled broadly.

"Oh, sorry I stopped think of George as The General when I started calling him George, and yes it will be General O'Neill." Said Daniel, "But don't tell him that." Janet laughed, "Walk with me to the briefing room?"

"Sure, I have to present my findings anyway." Daniel offered her his arm and she took it delighted.

"I'm pleased to report, that Dr Jackson is a very healthy 82 year-old." Daniel beamed and took a seat at the table next to Jack. He poured himself a glass of water and sipped it slowly. Everyone stared at him.

"I think this is the first time I've seen you come in and not go straight for the coffee maker." Said Jack dumbfounded. Daniel's old face crinkled into a smile his eyes laughed at them.

"Oh, the coffee thing; I gave that up years ago too much caffeine bad for the heart."

"Not if you only drink coffee," Said Janet.

"It is if the woman you love tells you to choose between her and the beans."

"And you chose her?" cried Jack. "Must be some woman." Daniel smiled a million miles away.

"She was." Daniel blinked himself back into the present. "As much as I love this literal trip down memory lane, I think I want to go home now. Sam did you bring the statue?"

"It's right here." She said putting it on the table. "And here are the notes."

"Thanks, okay, this is a depiction of all the stages of life. My notes indicate that the inscription equates age with the possession of wisdom. It's has somehow used me to demonstrate its message."

"How so?"

"I was in the Maturity stage the acquisition of knowledge. Then as I got younger that's the youth stage of curiosity. Me now, is Elderly or the state of wisdom. Knowledge plus experience equals wisdom or at least it's supposed to."

"So how do we reverse it?"

"I'm not sure, for me this never happened, or I was never told about it. I've never seen this statue before and even if I wasn't the archeologist who studied it in my timeline I would have at least come across it, because of my position as head of the cultural studies department at area 51."

"There is no such department." Said Hammond.

"Not yet." Said Daniel smiling faintly.

"So what are you saying is in your timeline the statue doesn't exist?"

"Exactly."

"But how does that help us?"

"Like this." Said Daniel and stood up. He picked up the statue and tossed it on the floor. The artifact shattered into a thousand pieces. Jack leapt up beside him. "See you in the future," said Daniel as a cloud of dust rose from the pieces and his eyes rolled back in his head. Jack was there to catch him.

Daniel rolled over and opened his eyes. The familiar smell of medicine and antiseptics filled his nostrils and through the haze of his glassless eyes he saw the familiar white ceiling.

"What happened?" he croaked turning to the blur of Jack sat in his usual chair.

"You don't remember?"

"I remember working on a translation in my office and going to sleep on the couch. What happened?"

"I found you on the couch, but you wouldn't wake up. Frasier says you're suffering from exhaustion and caffeine poisoning; too many espressos, there Danny."

"Ugh, how long?"

"Not long, two days."

"Two days?"

"Good afternoon, gentlemen glad to see you're with us again Daniel."

"Good to be back, I hear I've been out for two days."

"Somewhere in there." Said Janet checking his vitals; Daniel yawned.

"I had the weirdest dreams."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah, first I was back with the cover stones trying to crack the code of the Stargate, then I was in one of my foster homes, my foster sister was yelling at me for helping with her homework, then I was with my parents again on a dig, I found ancient coke can in the desert and my mother helped me excavate it." He laughed to himself, "Then I was in a baby crib, staring up at this mobile. I fell asleep and woke up in a strange house, reading a book to a little girl lay across my lap. It was really weird."

"Sounds like quite and adventure." Janet laughed.

"Any thing happened while I was out?"

"Nah, just few alien invasions and a rousing bout of foot fungus, you know just the usual." Daniel laughed.

Epilogue

A few months later….

Daniel Jackson sat alone in a darkened corner of the observation room staring at a letter that had been delivered only a few hours ago. It was hand written in the neat tight scrawl of Dr Janet Frasier.

Dear Daniel,

If you are reading this then my suspicions have come true; I am dead. I wish that I could tell you something that will make this better, but unfortunately after a lifetime of giving bad news it never gets any easier. I suppose age is the onset of wisdom, but I've not found that in myself. In truth, it was you who told me I would not live much longer, though I doubt you knew you'd said it to me.

I must reveal a lie to you. You were not suffering from exhaustion when you dreamed you were in different parts of your life. In truth it seems you had switched places with them. We did not tell you because your future self knew nothing of this event; we didn't want to change history, though by writing this I am probably changing a great deal. Do not blame yourself for any part you had in my death, I know it could never be your fault. Your future self blamed himself, for what happened, and I don't want you to carry that around with you. Daniel you are a good kind man, who deserves all the happiness that life has to offer. Don't be afraid to love someone as much as I now know you loved me. Don't blame yourself, I loved you and had to let you go.

When you died, I was devastated I kept trying to find out someway that would have kept you here, with me. I want you to live Daniel, live to be the wise old man that helped me accept what was to come, live well, Daniel and we shall meet again.

Always, Janet

X


End file.
